The Indian State of Punjab remains largely free from terrorist violence for the ninth consecutive year after the terrorist-secessionist movement for Khalistan was comprehensively defeated in 1993. However, there remain a handful of terrorist groups, mainly sponsored by Pakistan and by some non-resident Indian Sikh groups based in the West, who continue to propagate the ideology of Khalistan.
In the year 2002, till May 30, five persons were killed and 39 others injured in terrorism-related violence in Punjab. During this period, a total of four terrorists were arrested and another surrendered.
The year 2001 had seen just one civilian fatality, and another injured, in terrorism-related violence in the State, while 31 terrorists were arrested and one surrendered. The police also recovered 46 bombs, 29.32 kg of RDX and 14.5 kg of PETN explosive material and fake currency worth Rs. 12,25,250 in 2001.
On January 31, 2002, an explosion occurred in a Punjab Roadways bus near Satnaur village, in which two persons were killed and 14 others injured. Another bomb blast took place on March 31, 2002, on the Dhanbad-Ferozpur Express train at Sirhind railway station, killing three persons and injuring 25 others.
Available evidence suggests that, in the year 2002, there have been renewed attempts by Pakistan to revive terrorism in Punjab through its external intelligence agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). Official sources insist that Pakistan based-terrorist outfits like the Khalistan Commando Force–Panjwar (KCF-P), Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) and International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) are maintaining a close nexus with the ISI and are waiting for the right opportunity to revive terrorism in the State. Available evidence also suggests that the ISI has directed the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) to impart training to these pro-Khalistan terrorist organisations. Reports indicate that the LeT was to train these outfits at eight designated camps––Kot Lakhpat, Chakwal, Gujranwala, Mianwali, Peshawar, Attock, Shahidan Da Banga and Gulbarg (Lahore) in Pakistan. India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, in its 88th Report, tabled in the Lok Sabha on April 16, 2002, also urged the government to take all necessary preventive measures to thwart the ISI’s attempts to revive terrorism in Punjab.
Terrorists from these groups and the from the Dal Khalsa (DK), are among the 20 most-wanted persons who India has asked Pakistan to extradite. The request was made soon after the December 13, 2001-attack on Parliament in New Delhi. The five Khalistani terrorists who India claims are sheltered in Pakistan are KCF chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar, Wadhawa Singh of BKI, Lakhbir Singh Rode, the head of the ISYF, Ranjeet Singh of KZF and Gajinder Singh of DK. Except for the DK, the other four terrorist groups have been proscribed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), 2002.
Despite the two major incidents in 2002, however, trends in the year 2001, and indeed, in the preceding eight years, suggest that the ideology of Khalistan has lost appeal among the people of Punjab, and even public calls to revive secession and terrorist violence have faded out. This was clearly evident in the statement of Jagjit Singh Chauhan, a separatist leader, who returned to Punjab in June 2001, who spoke of ‘peaceful means’ for the attainment of his ‘objectives’. Chauhan’s return to Punjab from a 21-year exile in London was made possible by a Punjab and Haryana High Court judgement on May 29, 2001, permitting him to visit India. On June 28 at Mohali, while he admitted to linkages with various Sikh separatist groups such as the BKI and the ISYF, he denied any links with Pakistan-based terrorist groups. Chauhan also reportedly said that three Panthic Committee members – Jarnail Singh Hoshiarpura and Shehbag Singh along with an unidentified third member – were in Punjab to revive terrorism. This had also been reportedly said by Pritpal Singh Khalsa, a Switzerland based terrorist. No further information about these three has, however, come to light thus far.
A number of terrorists were arrested in the year 2001. Prominent among them was KCF-Zaffarwal (KCF-Z) chief Wassan Singh Zaffarwal who was apprehended on April 11, 2001, after what was widely believed as a botched political effort to secure his ‘surrender’ and political revival. While renouncing terrorist activities, Zaffarwal divulged that many terrorists living in exile were willing to return home, if given a chance to join the mainstream. Another KCF-Z terrorist was arrested elsewhere on March 23, 2001. On August 26, police also arrested Angrej Singh, a KCF terrorist and an accomplice of Zaffarwal, in Ferozepore. Zaffarwal’s arrest was strongly criticised by some surviving groups who resolved to observe the 15th anniversary of the declaration of ‘Khalistan’ on April 30, at Stockton in Sweden and in California in the USA. The Khalistan declaration was originally made at the Akal Takht by the Panthic Committee on April 29, 1986. Zaffarwal was one of the five original signatories.
Nine BKI terrorists–four from Harchowal in Batala and five from Nabepur in Gurdaspur––were arrested in May 2001. Three kilograms of RDX, as well as some arms and ammunition, were seized from the arrested terrorists. They reportedly confessed that they had been trained by Manjit Singh, a Pakistan-based terrorist and a close associate of BKI chief Mohal Singh. They also admitted that they, as well as others, had crossed over to Pakistan several times to smuggle arms and ammunition for subversive activities in the Indian States of Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). Earlier, on April 9, a large cache of arms and ammunition had been recovered from the Sirhind Canal in Ropar district.
On May 17, 2001, the police arrested two Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) terrorists in Ludhiana. Jasbir Singh Jassa, who had escaped from the Nabha jail on August 21, 2000, and had since been evading police, was one of them. A Babbar Khalsa terrorist was also arrested from Dhingar village, Mansa, on June 18, 2001. On July 16, police arrested an unidentified KCF terrorist in Moga.
The State government appeared apprehensive in the wake of arrests made by the security forces. A possible resurgence of terrorist violence by a section of the terrorists, who disliked the manner in which many have ‘offered’ themselves for surrender, was the reason for this worry. Authorities also speculate that the ISI could help such elements by involving non-Sikhs in abetting and supporting violent strikes in parts of Punjab. Official sources maintain that the Babbar Khalsa was under the patronage of top-terrorist coordinators based in Pakistan, Germany and the United Kingdom, and this was confirmed by arrested terrorists who admitted to their interrogators that foreign-based terrorists were trying to revamp defunct terrorist channels in the State. Interrogations also revealed that several unemployed youth had been routed to Thailand, Nepal and Singapore, en route to Pakistan. Reports quoting intelligence sources also indicated that, in the weeks that followed the July 2001-Agra Summit between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, various Khalistani terrorists were being rapidly regrouped.
Some dispersed funding from foreign sources continues to reach terrorists in Punjab. This was revealed by Sukhwinder Singh alias Sukha, the leader of the Babbar Khalsa, who was arrested on May 1, 2001. He reportedly said he had received a sum of Rs. One hundred thousand through hawala (illegal money transfer) transactions from Germany. This amount was sent by German-based 'Babaji' and Piara Singh, both of whom are said to be active fundraisers for the Babbar Khalsa. In the month of June, media reports indicated that Gurnam Singh alias Piare, a United Kingdom-based BKI terrorist had plotted to assassinate prominent Indian leaders.
Pre-trial hearings in the Air India Flight 182, Kanishka Bombing, Case are in progress at Vancouver in Canada. The presiding judge had earlier decided to postpone the hearings until November 2002. Three accused Khalistani terrorists – Ripudaman Singh Malik, Ajaib Singh Bagri and Inderjit Singh Reyat – all residents of British Columbia, are charged with murder and conspiracy for their alleged involvement in the bombing. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had arrested the first two on October 27, 2000, and the last, whose extradition to Canada was secured earlier, was charged in June 2001. Besides, a fourth person indicted in the case, Talwinder Singh Parmar, a Babbar Khalsa terrorist, was killed in an encounter by Punjab Police in 1992.
The Indian Government continued with its efforts for the extradition of various Sikh terrorists based in Pakistan and other countries as well as attempts to secure trial of those charged in foreign countries. Reports in May 2001 indicated that the Indian Ministry of External Affairs would approach the Netherlands government for the extradition of Babbar Khalsa terrorist Tarsem Singh Kalasanghian, who was among six arrested near Amsterdam from a Gurdwara (a Sikh place of worship) in the last week of April that year. Tarsem Singh, a ‘proclaimed offender’, is wanted in eight separate cases of terrorism and violence in India.
In a major development, a Court in Kent, Britain, in July 2002 convicted two Khalistani terrorists, Avtar Singh Hundal and Kesar Singh Dhaliwal, of the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), a terrorist outfit proscribed in Britain. The two have been ordered to serve 30 months in prison. The convictions, made under the (British) Anti-Terrorism Act, 2000, were the first under the Act since it came into force in February 2001. Hundal and Dhaliwal entered Britain from Germany and the British government suspected they were in the country to raise funds for the ISYF. Their accomplice, Paramjit Singh, who too had been arrested along with them, is currently under detention, as charges have not yet been framed against him.